Grammy-award winning artist Rosanne Cash's song "Land of Dreams" forms the heart of the first ever marketing campaign launched to brand an entity which many may feel does not require much branding - the ubiquitous United States of America. The people behind the campaign would beg to differ. The crack team consists of Brand USA, a public-private entity and creative agency JWT.

The campaign seeks to tap into people's emotions, reminding them of what they love most about America - the diversity, pop culture, optimistic spirit and larger than life presence - and invite them to see, hear and feel it in a new way. Driving the feel-good and fuzzily warm campaign are some solid insights mined during extensive quantitative and qualitative research.

Chris Perkins, CMO, Brand USA, observes that irrespective of whether people had been to America or not, they felt they already knew "all there was to know, through a lifetime of exposure to our near-omnipresent brands, and regular coverage in the international news and entertainment media.

Many felt almost overly familiar with America." However, on digging deeper, he adds, their knowledge was found to be superficial, restricted to symbols like Times Square, the Golden Gate Bridge, Las Vegas and Hollywood. For this reason, it was imperative to help people realise that there is much more to the United States.

While pegged as a global campaign with insights and research from 11 target markets including China, India and Brazil, each country's cultural insights are reflected in the creative executions. Shares David Eastman, North American CEO and worldwide digital director, JWT, "Working in concert with our local offices,we spent six months testing and vetting various platforms and directions."

The goal was to develop a unifying strategic framework that would ultimately result in a campaign to appeal to each market with different reasons. Building on the universal appeal of music, it was identified as an optimal way to bring to life the spirit of Brand USA across cultures.Adds Eastman, "If it has the kind of in-market resonance we are hoping for, music will continue to be integrated across our brand efforts for the foreseeable future."

The first wave of advertising took off this month initially in three markets - the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada, with a media budget of $12.3 million for the first three months. As per the plan, subsequent campaign waves will include Brazil and South Korea, to be followed soon after by other identified countries,which include China, Germany, Mexico, India and Australia.

Adds Eastman, "Plans are afoot to employ a fully integrated marketing strategy using a mix of 60, 20 and 15 second television spots, as well as digital, billboard and print advertisements, along with a robust online presence and social media strategy." Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages will showcase country specific promotions and engagements and the newly relaunched website DiscoverAmerica.com will act as visitors' information portal for trip planning.

As someone who has worked on the first and several subsequent Incredible!ndia campaigns, Satbir Singh, managing partner and chief creative officer, Euro RSCG India finds it to be quite a contrarian take. In his view, the visuals appear to focus more on the melting-pot, multicultural side of America than places of tourist interest. Agrees David Keen CEO of QUO Global, a tourism branding firm, "it also shows a more humble side to America, critical to the development of their inbound tourism efforts, particularly in the ever growing Asian region who need to see a softer side. It helps them move away from the brash image for which they are recognised."

As per a recent media-note issued by the US Department of State in the year 2011, international visitors contributed to the employment of more than one million American workers by spending $152 billion on US traveland tourism-related goods and services.

Every 65 additional international visitors would generate enough revenue to support an additional travel- and tourism-related job. Holds forth Rajiv Duggal, managing director - Kuoni India, "Clearly the US economy is not as interesting currently (as it used to be), and they need tourism to act as the booster."

Branding a nation involves marketing different aspects of a country's identity to generate favourable public opinion of its natural, social and cultural diversity.Australia, Canada, Britain and South Africa have been effective in emphasising their distinct characteristics. Of course, finally, branding a nation requires more than a strong campaign. It needs the support of the critical public and private sector organisations who are going to own this success. Adds David Keen, "if there is no harmony among these organisations, the brand will inevitably be diluted. There also has to be critical continuity no matter the result of an election or a change in government."

The Land of Dreams anthem might just be able to cross all the hurdles and make the land of dreams a reality.